I was born in southwest Ontario, but only lived there for a short while before moving with the family to Bradenton, Florida. I grew up playing soccer and baseball before helping to start the first high school roller hockey league in the Tampa Bay area.

It's a little over 3 hours until the puck drops on the 2006-2007 season. Looking around the internet, including this site, it seems the Lightning fan base has divided into two camps. One camp seems to believe the acquisition of Marc Denis will propel the Lightning back into the stratosphere of the Eastern Conference elite. The other camp seems far more pessimistic and tends to believe what much of the national hockey media is spouting about the Lightning falling from playoff contention this season. Both sides seem pretty dug in with their beliefs and both sides have shared a good amount vitriol with their counterparts on the other side. Both sides need to slow down.
I don't know. You don't either.
I suspect this is the nature of the beast in the new NHL where teams will be remaking at least 1/4 of their roster every offseason due to the relaxed free agency rules and the salary cap. It's impossible to tell how this year's version of the Tampa Bay Lightning will perform, and anyone who tells you they know one way or the other is dilluding themself. Team chemistry is a mysterious thing and, I would argue, not even John Tortorella has a complete idea when, if or how this team will gel with its new additions. With that in mind, here are some of the questions that will begin to be answered tonight in Atlanta:

hey im big fan of the lightning and the teams prospects...i am also a big fan of adam henrich and followed his ohl career in brampton...y was this guy cut he had 5 points in 4 games at camp and size and 6'4'' what did he do wrong to be a 1st cut? thanks for any insight from those who were at camp...

From his chrome dome and yellow cranial lid to his sparkling white RBK blockers to the day-glow green Koho in hand, this Finn stands out.
Positionally sound.
Masterful glove.
Quick recovery.
One young lady was overheard remarking he was just cute enough for her to wrap up and take home with her for the summer.
Jonathan D'Aversa's crash just :32 seconds into his Ice Palace premiere brought audible gasps and quick relief as both bounced up and competed admirably thereafter.
Kicked aside blueline slappers with ease. Flashed a poised left catcher and fed his opposite-side defensive help to clear. Even took one off the frontal lobe without distraction.

For thise few brave souls who have stumbled onto this site and are wondering what the status of our blog is...
As of right now we are tentatively aiming for a full site launch in the Fall. It was our original intention to launch in December/January with the full content package to coincide with what we hoped would be the end of the NHL labor dispute. Unfortunately, thanks to Messers Bettman and Goodenow that didn't happen. Now we are guessing (hoping) both sides can conclude their squabbles by August or so and that we can get back to goals and assists as opposed to salary caps.
In the meantime we are going to move with some deliberation towards updating and revamping the site software (with much love to resident cyber guru and fellow Tech grad and Boltprospects founder Tim) before we start to fill in the content for the site which will include new organizational rankings, draft coverage, game threads etc etc.

I grew up playing hockey in SW Ontario ... until my family decided to move to Bradenton, Florida. My last game in Ridgetown I scored 7 goals and 1 assist in a 14-1 Ridgetown win over Glencoe. I got 2nd Star in the game because my LWer had 1 goal and 7 assists. Apparently the minor hockey association was in the mood to reward the set-up guys as my LWer got the No.1 star. That was probably my best hockey moment.